MCP

Molycorp, Inc.

A miner and processor of rare earth elements, Molycorp, Inc. ran the Mountain Pass mine in California's Mojave Desert, producing cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium used in catalytic converters, optics, and magnets for electric-vehicle motors. Born in 1919 as the Molybdenum Corporation of America, it took the shorter name "Molycorp" in 1974. Fun fact: the deposit was found by accident in 1949 when uranium prospectors stumbled on a vein that turned out to be the rare-earth mineral bastnäsite.